


I think about you owl the time

by sunshinsou



Series: Owls & Cats [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi Keiji & Kozume Kenma Friendship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Asexual Akaashi Keiji, Asexual Character, Bad Flirting, Bisexual Bokuto Koutarou, Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou are Bros, College, First Dates, First Meetings, Fluff, Gay Kuroo Tetsurou, Gay Panic, Happy, Happy Ending, Kuroo Tetsurou is a Good Friend, M/M, Minor Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Misunderstandings, Study Date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:46:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28312563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinsou/pseuds/sunshinsou
Summary: Between Kuroo's hopeless crush on his newly found roommate, and Bokuto realizing he might not be as straight as he always thought he was, things are chaotic, to say the least.Or; Kuroo and Bokuto have been friends since high school, so it's a given that Kuroo offers to help when Bokuto can't stop thinking about that one pretty barista.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Bokuto Koutarou & Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Owls & Cats [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2171925
Comments: 25
Kudos: 169





	1. Cozy, warm, and welcoming

**Author's Note:**

> Heya! So, this is my secret santa gift for Bel! I really hope you enjoy this bro. I don't recall the last time I put this much effort into something! Merry fucking Christmas (And happy new year?)! The songs from the playlist for this chapter are mostly just ones that would be played at the café, though I feel like 'cliché' definitely describes Bokuto's situation quite well.  
> [6 songs]
> 
> [also, this has 5 chapters+ a short epilogue!]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bokuto meets Akaashi. Kuroo immediately gets what's happening.

First dates were never easy. That’s what everyone else said at least. For Bokuto, it never made that much of a difference.

First date, second date, third date. All of them were sort of similar. Sure, maybe people weren’t as nervous during their second date, because they felt like the person already somewhat liked them. Maybe they thought they didn’t have to impress them anymore.

Actually thinking about it, though, anyone would realize how stupid that is. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first date, or you’re three years into dating. You should always try to impress the other, make them happy, and do your best. And even if you do all that, there’s a chance they’re just not going to like you anymore one day.

Not being liked by someone used to be a nightmare for Bokuto, so this realization hit hard when he was younger.

Since high school, a lot of things had changed though.

While Bokuto still liked people, even loved getting along with them, he could handle the occasional rejection well.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t entirely true. But at least he didn’t care about others’ opinions as much anymore.

Yeah, no. That was also a total lie. He lived off of people’s attention. He loved being liked, making others’ smile. Some might call him a people pleaser. That was the one thing he actually never cared about as much though. He didn’t know why it would be a bad thing, to want to please others, especially because he still knew how to say no to most of them. After all, other people’s positive reactions were mostly just consequences of things he wanted to do anyway. It never got to a point where it was toxic or anything. In fact, it was mostly he, who made himself feel miserable at times, by not meeting his own expectations.

Apart from that, he could say no to everyone, but his best friend, Kuroo. That was fine though. People made exceptions for their best friends all the time. It was especially fine, because Kuroo was genuinely a good person. He was smart, he cared for him, he liked to have fun – and sure, maybe that had gotten them in trouble more times than he could count already, but still! He always had good intentions.

Overall, Bokuto liked to think he was more mature nowadays. Actually, that was probably what made him so popular. Well, that, and the part where he was an amazing volleyball player, super handsome, and really funny. The volleyball thing was what he was most proud of, though. It was also what he was praised for the most.

For once, Volleyball wasn’t what was on his mind right now, though, and neither were classes, or drinking, or Kuroo and his stupid gay crush on his roommate – that one was usually on his mind a lot. He never really got why Kuroo wouldn’t just ask him out. Being gay seemed a little complicated. More like, a lot complicated, actually.

There was a point where he had been trying to figure out if Kuroo was into him – back when the guy insisted, he wouldn’t tell him who his crush was. After coming out to him, he had started acting super weird as well. Bokuto wasn’t really opposed to dating a guy, but nothing ever clicked. And then it turned out that Kuroo was acting strange all the time because he had just found a new roommate, and immediately fell for him, even though he knew, like, nothing about him. Apparently, he ‘forgot how to act’, even when the guy wasn’t around.

On that note, Bokuto had never actually met this guy. All he knew was that he was blonde, – or something? – and Kuroo referred to him as anything but his name. Honestly, it was a little creepy, even to Bokuto.

The thing that made him forget about all that, though, was the date he was going on today. Well, he sort of was there already.

He was meeting a girl. A beautiful brunette. Dark hair, dark eyes, tanned skin, and no less than absolutely gorgeous.

He had met her in one of his classes. It was something math related, and he kind of really sucked at it. But in order to stay on the volleyball team, his coach demanded good grades (– seriously? What did he need math for when spiking a damn ball?).

To his luck, he was assigned a project with Maiko – the girl he was meeting – and she took a liking to him. Apart from being pretty, and sweet, she was also smart enough to help him out.

So how could he have said no when she asked him out? Also, the fact that she was the one to ask in the first place, made this infinitely better.

Quite honestly, he’d always kind of had a thing for women like that. Sure, shy girls were perfectly fine, but bold girls? They made him feel less loud – obnoxious, as some might say – but still made him feel appreciated, like he was the center of attention at all times.

Okay, who was he lying to though? All girls were perfect, every single one. He’d straight up do anything for them, he was sure.

Coming back to his current situation, he was waiting in front of some coffee shop, – ‘it’s a café,’ Kuroo would say, ‘There’s a difference’ – that he had never actually been to before. It was surprisingly far from campus, so he wasn’t sure why they would go here when there was a shop that served perfectly fine coffee about five minutes from their usual building.

Still, he didn’t complain, when the girl was nice enough to go out with him, as well as basically tutor him. Besides, she had mentioned it was special somehow. Apparently, it was great for study dates. Not that he really knew what that meant. He wasn’t even exactly sure what a study date was supposed to be. Still, Bokuto was excited.

Ten minutes later worries started creeping up on him. Was she ditching him right now? Maybe she ran into a more handsome volleyball player on her way? Was that even possible?

Before he could begin to spiral – which wouldn’t have been the first time ever, as surprising as it might be – he felt a tap on his shoulder, and was greeted with an amazingly bright smile when he turned around.

“Sorry, my train was late. I meant to text you, but there was no connection until I got off. Forgive me?” she explained, smile still soft, but not particularly apologetic.

Not that Bokuto really minded. As long as she was here, he didn’t really care about her excuse. So, he nodded, “Sure. Let’s go inside, though?”

She just grinned, grabbed his hand, and Bokuto felt a shiver run down his spine. He smiled back at her, matching her excitement with ease. Smiles always got him enthused. Really, he lived for them. Seeing other people happy, full of joy, was probably his second favorite feeling ever. The only thing that might be better, was getting attention and praise from everyone around him for something he had done successfully.

With no further hesitation, they walked in, and he immediately knew what was so special about this place.

There were little tables, for a max of four people – though they’d probably be cramped – all over the place. There were tons of smaller shelves between them, creating something like a half-wall, to give whoever was sitting there enough privacy, but still make the whole area look open, and welcoming.

The brown-ish furniture, an unreal number of books, candles, and other Christmas themed decorations made him feel at home immediately. As if all of that wasn’t enough, he could hear faint music playing in the background.

There weren’t many people around, but the few he spotted seemed happy. Most of them were laughing, some were studying, relaxing in the cozy chairs, or soft-looking sofas.

And yet, the most brilliant thing about the whole place was what he saw when he looked to the counter.

A guy. A man, rather. He didn’t look to be much shorter than Bokuto, but he was definitely a little skinnier, still muscular though, considering the way his shirt tensed across his shoulders. His hair, just long enough to reach his ears – and somehow make them look cute – wasn’t shaggy, but it looked fluffy enough to be incredibly soft if Bokuto were to run a hand through it. He had dark eyes, but they might have been blue – it was hard to tell from afar.

Bokuto had to stop in his tracks. He couldn’t stop himself from staring though. He’d seen many handsome guys before, but this? This was entirely different. He’d marry this guy right now if he could. Wait – what?

He diverted his eyes, forcefully. After staring at the ground for a moment, he figured he’d be fine, back to normal. This was nothing like him after all. He was here on a date. A date with a girl.

And luckily, said girl was talking right now, so he just had to smile as she dragged him along, until they reached the counter and she asked, “What do you want, Bokuto-san?”

Forced to finally look up, he hoped he could just get it over with.

“Uh, I think I’ll just…”

Nope. Nothing.

Brain, come on, please.

God, he was so beautiful.

“Chocolate-ful?”

“Sorry, what was that?” Oh. Oh shit. 

He even sounded like an angel.

“I think he wants hot chocolate! Also, I’ll take one of those extra cream cupcakes! Thanks,” Maiko explained, essentially saving Bokuto from embarrassing himself even further.

He was thankful at first, but she grabbed his hand again, and suddenly it felt so, so wrong. He couldn’t place it, or really explain why, but the shiver that ran down his spine this time wasn’t a good one. He did his best to keep it together, and not pull away immediately.

To his surprise, he didn’t seem to be the only one who seemed to have been a little uncomfortable at the action. He could have sworn he saw Akaashi’s – that’s what his name tag said – face twist a bit. It was subtle, but it was hard to overlook, considering Bokuto was shamelessly staring at his face, absolutely entranced.

“Thanks, Aghaashi-“

Wait. Shit. Did he seriously just pronounce his name like that? Holy hell, what the fuck was going on? Why did he use it in the first place? Calling a barista you didn’t know by their name? That’s not even normal for someone like him.

It wasn’t unusual for him to be stuck on words though, lost in thought even, distracted, or not paying attention, but this? This was nothing like those times.

But it all seemed forgotten when Akaashi smiled at him, nodded, and looked after them when Maiko pulled them to their seats (– not that Bokuto had still been looking at the barista, no way).

Bokuto didn’t even have a moment to comprehend, or think about what just happened, before the girl started laughing. She raised her brows, smile sweet when she calmed down again. “Are you okay? The hell was that about? You know him or something?”

Bokuto managed a chuckle, shook his head. “The barista? Nah, no,” he replied, and he wasn’t lying. If he’d known him, he would be friends with him already, he was sure.

“I guess I got a little distracted. You know, pretty date and all,” he said with a grin, proud he managed to get out of that situation, as well as get her flustered.

* * *

After that small exchange, it didn’t take long for their orders to arrive. To his disappointment (– wait, what? Why was he disappointed? –) Akaashi wasn’t the one serving them. It was a short, blonde girl, and she looked oddly familiar, but he couldn’t figure out if he knew her.

In all honesty, he didn’t pay much attention, other than when he thanked her and paid. His eyes were mostly glued to the book Maiko had brought with her. Or well, at least that had been Bokuto’s intention. He found them drifting towards the counter though, and he cursed himself for having chosen this side to sit on. If he was facing it with his back, he might actually be less tempted to watch the dark-haired stranger. Not that he was actually aware of what he was doing, until his date pointed it out.

She turned around, glanced over at Akaashi, then her eyes found Bokuto again. “Are you sure you don’t know him?”

That’s when Bokuto snapped out of it. He laughed, hoping it seemed more casual than he felt. “He looks familiar,” he lied, and he could barely believe he was doing it. He kind of sucked at lying. “I think he might be in one of my classes,” he added, though he knew he would have noticed someone this aesthetically pleasing, if he’d seen them around before.

Luckily, she nodded afterwards, apparently not too curious or skeptical about the whole thing.

That didn’t necessarily mean he felt any more at ease.

No matter how pretty she was, how great the hot chocolate tasted, or how desperately he needed to get these stupid formulas into his head, he couldn’t focus.

He wasn’t sure if Maiko noticed. He really, really hoped she didn’t. From the way she was looking at him whenever their eyes met, though, she seemed fine. There was nothing in her expression that told him she was disappointed, or annoyed. He even caught her blushing at a couple things he said.

That was good. The date was going well at least, even if he was distracted, and couldn’t help but watch the barista, like, the whole time. He didn’t need to entertain her constantly, didn’t need to talk this whole time. It was great, good, yeah.

* * *

“So, how was the date, Bo?”

Kuroo had most likely let himself in again. Bokuto had given him a key at some point after he moved in. It was meant for emergencies, but apparently Kuroo thought he didn’t value privacy that much, because only a day after getting it, he treated the place like it was his own.

Bokuto complained at first, but honestly, he loved having others around. Getting used to living alone was one of the hardest things he ever had to do. Even though his older sisters had both already moved out by the time he got into high school, he still had his mother around all the time. So, it wasn’t just tough for her to suddenly be alone, but also for him.

He had actually considered staying at his parents’ place, but the university was just too far away for that, and he wanted some kind of independence as well.

For the longest time, Kuroo had tried to convince him to move in together, but Bokuto’s mother was strictly against it. While she knew and loved the tall brunette, she knew the two of them were chaotic and made for trouble.

By now, Kuroo usually hung around when his roommate was studying, or too busy playing games... or something.

“Did you make food?” Bokuto asked as he walked into the living room, where Kuroo was sprawled across the sofa, remote in his hand.

“Hello to you, too, handsome,” Kuroo grinned, and Bokuto groaned.

“You’re so lazy, you know? If you spend all your time here, just to give your crush space, you could at least do something for me,” the volleyball player sighed.

He took off his shoes and jacket, before joining the taller guy. He let his head fall back, resting it on one of the green cushions.

“Listen, I’m doing something for someone else by being here. You should all be thanking me already. Besides, you love having me around,” he argued.

“Well, I’d love you more if you cooked me something.”

“That’s pretty gay.” A laugh.

“On that note…”

Before Bokuto could continue, Kuroo’s eyes went wide as he sat up properly. He muted the tv, and suddenly Bokuto felt a little uneasy. He’d talked with Kuroo about this stuff before, but all those times were more casual than this.

“Wait! Don’t tell me your date turned out to be a dude! And you stayed?”

“Hah?”

“Huh? Is that a no?”

“Wait, what? I’m confused.”

“Uh.”

They just stared at each other for a second, and suddenly Bokuto was laughing. Kuroo grinned, breaking out into a chuckle a second later as well.

Immediately, Bokuto felt more at ease. So, when he calmed down, he finally explained.

“So, the girl I met was pretty cool. Really, nice, and pretty, and super smart-“

“Heart eyes, get to the point, what about this is gay?”

Bokuto looked at Kuroo for a moment, then laughed again. “I’m not saying there was anything gay about this. Like, I’m clearly into girls-“

“So? You could be bi.”

“Will you stop interrupting?”

“Or pan.”

“Kuroo.”

“Yep. I’m just saying. You’ve never given me straight vibes, you know.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Forget it. What were you saying?”

Kuroo looked serious again, and Bokuto was so thrown off by the whole thing that he almost forgot what he had wanted to say.

“Wait, that’s a good thing, right? Not giving off straight vibes?”

“Fuck yeah, that’s awesome, bro. It makes you about a billion times cooler.”

Bokuto grinned, wide. “Hell yeah! Okay!”

“Now get to the point.”

“Right, right. So! I walk into this coffee shop with this super perfect girl. Everything’s great, right? But as soon as I look to the counter my brain just stops! I’m like ‘oh shit, what the hell is happening? Why do I feel like I just missed a spike, you know?”

Kuroo looked at him, furrowing his brows. Bokuto figured he had trouble following, so he sighed.

“Like, I saw the dude at the counter, and he’s so beautiful! Like, not pretty, or hot, or anything. He’s just beautiful. Stunning. You know? And I got so confused, because I got this pretty girl by my side, and still! I couldn’t stop staring at him.”

He had hoped this explanation would make things better, but Kuroo’s expression grew even more confused… or angry… or something? He totally couldn’t tell, which scared him a little. He waited, and finally Kuroo smacked the back of his head.

“That’s the gayest thing I’ve heard all month! What are you even saying right now?”

It was Bokuto’s turn to furrow his brows. He didn’t quite get what Kuroo was saying. Did this actually mean he was gay – or bi, or pan, or whatever – just because he found someone nice to look at?

“No, seriously, Bo. You just said the guy at the counter was more attractive than the girl you were with. You’re fucking telling me about him right now. You can’t be that much of an idiot,” Kuroo said, interrupting his thoughts.

He frowned. “I’m not an idiot,” he replied.

Kuroo gave him a look, lips slowly curling into a smirk. “Do I have to remind you of that time-“

“Fine! Fine. You win, I’m an idiot. Now stop being a dick, and tell me what this means?”

“Bokuto,” Kuroo started, taking in a deep breath, as if he was about to give some sort of speech. “You know what that means. I mean, you have to. I can only tell you that it sounds like a crush to me. But hey, if you don’t think so… You’d know your feelings best.”

As correct as all that sounded, Bokuto honestly doubted he’d know what he was feeling. He’d always been bad at managing his moods, separating feelings, figuring out their meaning. Others usually did it for him, helped him out of them. And sure, he had grown a bit over the past few years – not just in size – but that didn’t mean a 20-year-old needed to have it all figured out, right?


	2. Kuroo, the know-it-owl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bokuto meets Kuroo's mysterious roommate. Things start to make a lot more sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For this chapter songs have been kind of hard to decide on, so we got a couple songs about crushes, but also about friendships :) other than that, enjoy!  
> [5 songs]

The next three days were miserable. Apart from having to attend classes, he couldn’t stop thinking about that weekend, about Maiko, about Akaashi.

Luckily, he didn’t see any of them since then – he wasn’t actually sure Akaashi went to college, or if it was the same one, in case he did. Yet, not even that was enough to stop him from walking around in a daze, frowning at anyone who didn’t try to console him immediately, even if they had no idea what could be bothering him, or that something was at all.

The situation frustrated him, if he was honest. He’d been doing pretty well over the past year or so, only rarely getting annoyed, mad, or sad enough to fall into one of his moods. Then, suddenly, a pretty guy came around and he felt lost. So lost, that coach told him to leave early and skip out on practice that Wednesday.

Begrudgingly, but without bothering to argue, he headed home. Or that was his plan, until he realized he might as well go complain to Kuroo instead. He knew the science major wouldn’t hesitate coming to his place if he was feeling down. Bokuto figured it would be fine if he did the same.

He thought wrong.

He knew for a fact that Kuroo wasn’t in class anymore. Wednesdays were his short days, and he usually spend them hanging out with his roommate. They played games or cooked each week. Bokuto always referred to it as date night, but Kuroo told him to stop it, since he never outright told his roommate that he was gay.

So, when instead of Kuroo opening the door, Bokuto was greeted by a short, tired-looking fake blonde – fake in the sense that only about half his hair was dyed. The rest had most likely grown out. It was a look though. Besides, Bokuto wasn’t one to judge – he wasn’t necessarily surprised.

The thing that he really didn’t expect though, was Kuroo not immediately running to the door, especially after the blonde said his name – he’d be more confused about him knowing it, if he didn’t have a reputation for drinking a bit too much during parties (and being the volleyball team’s ace, of course).

“Bokuto?” he asked, voice raspy, like he had just woken up from a nap.

Immediately, Bokuto’s cheeks went red. Good god. He wasn’t one to get embarrassed easily, but now that he realized what situation he was in? This was bad.

He had always thought Kuroo wasn’t telling him his roommate’s actual name just to be mysterious and annoying, but now he was almost convinced it was just so this exact thing would happen.

He had gotten names wrong before, or simply forgotten what it was right after being told, but with someone so dear to Kuroo, he didn’t want to make a bad first impression. Besides, wouldn’t it sound like Kuroo never talked about the guy, if he didn’t know his name?

Kuroo definitely owed him for this.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Bokuto started, hoping he wouldn’t come off as nervous as he was.

Apparently, the smaller guy was a mind reader though, because he furrowed his brows, then sighed. “Kuroo isn’t here, and I doubt you’re looking for me. I kinda wanna go back to sleep so if you wouldn’t mind-“

“Huh? Do you know where Kuroo is then?” he asked, before he could stop himself. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I had no idea! Are you sick? Do you want me to get you anything? Kuroo maybe?”

“Why would I want Kuroo if I’m sick?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Kuroo would most definitely want you around- Wait! Uh, forget that! Sorry, hah!” He managed a laugh, as well as a bright smile right after. Well, maybe Kuroo deserved this one.

Luckily, though, his slip up was just ignored and the guy sighed again. “I don’t know where he went, to be honest. He kind of just walked in and then left almost immediately. Uh, I figured he was staying at your place tonight, actually. ‘Cause I’m having a friend over…and stuff.”

It was obvious that this much speaking and explanation were already a lot for him, so Bokuto took pity and nodded.

“Well, thanks for your help… uh, yeah, I’ll get going then!”

“Right. It’s Kozume Kenma by the way.”

“Yup, I totally knew that! Bokuto Koutarou, but you seemed to know that too. Thank you, Kozume! Also, your hair looks great, if I didn’t mention it yet! It’s really no surprise Kuroo likes you so much.“

He felt pleased when Kenma blushed, but couldn’t help grinning widely, knowing that Kuroo would kill him if he found out about this. It wasn’t like he had actually mentioned the word crush, though, right? He was just helping his best friend, and with the reaction it earned, this seemed to have been a good idea.

When Kenma nodded stiffly, moving to close the door, Bokuto took it as his cue to leave. He turned around, then started walking away, feeling way more accomplished than he could have expected to be.

Over all, he wasn’t surprised that the fake blonde turned out to be quite different from how Kuroo had described him. He still seemed like an interesting person, though, and Bokuto was determined to actually get to know him a bit better, figure out what his best friend’s crush was like when they interacted, before determining whether he was a good fit or not. (Kuroo had even worse taste than him sometimes.)

The best part about all this? He didn’t think about Akaashi even once throughout that whole interaction.

* * *

With how close Kuroo lived to Bokuto’s place, it only took a fairly quick walk for him to be back home. After struggling with the key for a moment, he managed to open the door, and walked inside.

By then, he was feeling a little less enthusiastic again. Sure, interacting with Kenma had definitely helped, but it was only a short high, that couldn’t improve his overall mood. It was like eating a snack when you’re hungry – it might help for a while but it doesn’t replace an actual meal.

That’s what he needed right now. Food. And well, also advice, but considering Kuroo was the only one patient enough to listen to him, he didn’t really feel hopeful about that part. Food, on the other hand, could be ordered and delivered. That was something at least.

Settling down on his sofa, scrolling through whatever app Kuroo had made him download for delivery, and trying to decide on what to get, a major thing escaped him – the fact that someone, Kuroo, was definitely in his apartment right now.

“Bo!” His voice, coming out of nowhere, startled Bokuto enough to drop his phone, before barely catching it again. He groaned, or maybe whined, just to see Kuroo plopping down right next to him on the sofa.

“You’re so mean, you know that? I think I need my key back,” he said with a frown.

Kuroo smirked. “You think?” he joked, but Bokuto’s frown grew even deeper, so he ended up sighing, and ruffling his hair. “Can you get me something too? Whatever you’re getting is fine.”

It was obvious by then, that Bokuto wasn’t the only one in a bad mood. So, he nodded, ordering the cheapest thing he could find, before settling down properly.

He put his legs up, quickly met with Kuroo’s arms, grabbing them and positioning them over his lap. The brunette sighed, leaned his head back, but let his eyes fall on Bokuto.

“So, what’s up with you? You’re home early,” he stated, nothing strange about the fact that they knew each other’s schedules like that. They were close.

“Yeah… I,” he hesitated, “I’m not worthy of playing ever again, Kuroo. I couldn’t hit a single toss today! How am I ever going to play again when I’ve forgotten how to jump, and hit, and receive?”

It was unclear if Bokuto’s whining sounded angry or depressed. Probably a mix of both. Frustration was definitely one of the words that could be used to describe it as well.

Kuroo frowned, too. “What do you mean you don’t know how to do any of that anymore? You’re the ace, you’re great at all of that shit,” he offered, and even though Bokuto didn’t like to admit it, he felt a bit better already.

“Yes, but I just can’t focus! My mind keeps going wherever I don’t want it to and I just-“

“And where exactly is that? If you talk about it maybe you won’t have to think about it anymore. You’ll go back to being the brilliant player you always were, and we’re good.”

The nice thing about Kuroo’s pep talks, compliments, and advice is that he always tells the truth. He usually didn’t even have to exaggerate, and it was the best feeling ever any time Bokuto remembered exactly that.

Since they left high school, Kuroo had been a major help when it came to building genuine confidence, and depend less on what other people thought of him. Sure, he still cared about his reputation, first impressions, others’ thoughts and their feelings towards him. It wasn’t to as much of an insane extend, though. Maybe occasionally, on days like today, but he usually managed to get himself back out of it.

“Hm,” he hummed, considering Kuroo’s words. Eventually he sighed. “It’s about Maiko. Well, actually, it’s about Akaashi,” Bokuto finally admitted.

Kuroo clearly tried to hide the way his lips curved, but it was pointless. Bokuto had noticed, and groaned. “No, it’s just, I keep thinking about what you said, you know? And god, Kuroo, he’s so pretty! He’s seriously gorgeous. It’s just that I’m... I’m so curious about him.”

Silence. Kuroo was just looking at him expectantly. So, Bokuto looked down, then spoke up again.

“You actually think I have a crush on him?”

Still no answer.

“Seriously? Oh god, what am I gonna do then? Should I just forget about him? Bury myself alive? Kuroo! I can never play volleyball again if I can’t stop thinking about him! What are you chuckling about? This is serious!”

Kuroo was full on laughing by then, sounding like he always did when he couldn’t keep it to a low chuckle – absolutely hysterical.

Bokuto frowned even harder. He was seriously having a crisis, and Kuroo was not being of help at all. The whole situation was ridiculous. So, he got up with a huff and walked towards the kitchen. He needed a beer to comprehend the fact that he might never play volleyball again after today.

He didn’t get too far, before Kuroo shouted “Get me a drink too!” through his wheezing breaths.

Despite being somewhat annoyed, and definitely sad, Bokuto did as he was told, returning to the sofa a moment later.

Kuroo finally managed to get himself together after taking the first sip, but he still just stared at Bokuto, until the ace finally turned to look at him, frown glued to his lips.

“You’re actually serious about this, huhh?”

“I don’t know why you think this is funny! I’ll have to tell the team to go on without me! And they’ll probably do it, too! I’d just be useless like this!”

Kuroo’s sigh and the way he rolled his eyes had Bokuto furrowing his brows.

“Did you ever think about just asking him out?”

“Hah? Can I just… do that?”

“Well, I mean, I don’t know if he’s gay obviously, but not knowing shouldn’t stop you from asking. If he’s a dick about just being asked out by a guy, he’s not worth anyone’s efforts anyway,” Kuroo explained, shrugging, like the answer was obvious.

Bokuto felt weird about this. Hearing Kuroo’s words was comforting in a way, but it didn’t stop him from being unsure about all of it anyway.

“But I didn’t even like guys until recently, you know? Don’t you think this is kind of weird?”

Kuroo actually snorted at that. “Nah, it’s pretty normal, to be honest. Most people don’t actually know they’re anything but heterosexual and cis until they’re adults. There’re people in their 80s, who are just coming out. It’s never too late to realize who you are, or change your labels. What was true once can easily change. It’s not as big of a deal as you might think.”

Their eyes met, and Bokuto nodded to signal he was still listening.

“I thought I was bisexual all through high school, but then realized I’m totally, hopelessly gay. It’s fine either way, right?”

Again, Bokuto nodded, humming a quiet “Hm.”

Kuroo was right, he knew that. It never made any difference to him what label the guy used, so why would it be different for himself?

“As already said, you’re probably not gay with how badly you’re obsessed with girls, but no one’s asking you to be, y’know? You can be a bisexual guy with a preference for women, and still fall for a dude. That’s what bi means after all.”

The explanation made a lot more sense than he had first thought. Hearing his best friend talk like this, assure him that all of it was fine, he felt a little relieved. He was seriously lucky to have him.

“Thanks, Kuroo.”

“Yeah. The things I do so our team doesn’t loose their ace,” he replied with a dramatic breath.

Right as Bokuto snickered, he heard the door bell ring and got up.

The interaction was quick and surprisingly quiet. Bokuto was still lost in thought, so he just tipped the delivery girl, told her to have a great day and then headed back to sit next to Kuroo.

“So, why are you here?” Bokuto eventually asked.

Kuroo grinned, going to rip open the plastic wrap to access whatever Bokuto had ordered. “I knew you weren’t feeling well, so I decided to come here and wait for you! It was our telepathic bond. I could totally feel it.”

“Right.” He rolled his eyes, but his smile was slowly returning.

“Yup. I’m just that nice!”

“So it had nothing to do with Kozume hanging out with someone else on date night?”

Yeah, that definitely got Kuroo’s attention. Bokuto couldn’t help but break out into laughter, finally having something on the guy.

Kuroo stared at him for a moment, looked around the room, then at his food, and eventually his eyes locked with Bokuto’s. “You did not go to my place and talk to Kenma! No way.”

“First name basis, too?” Bokuto laughed. “I can’t believe I was about to take dating advice from you!”

“Hah? Kenma just prefers people calling him by his given name, okay! Oh god, Bo, please tell me you didn’t say anything weird.”

“Weird as in ‘Oh, yes, hello Kuroo’s roommate, I’m sorry, but I don’t know your name because Kuroo is so obsessed with you he doesn-‘”

“Bo! What the fuck?” He was shouting, but Bokuto could see the smile tugging at his lips.

“It’s my job to embarrass you, isn’t it?”

“No, no, that’s my job for you.”

“Mh, I think it’s a mutual thing. I can’t be owing you, right?” Bokuto grinned proudly.

“You owe me anyway,” Kuroo replied, smirking.

A pause followed, and they both started eating.

“So, is that it? He’s hanging out with a friend and you’re jealous?”

“No.”

Again, Bokuto brought his attention back to the food, looking away from Kuroo. He wasn’t sure about pressing further, so he decided to leave it at this for now. But just like that, Kuroo spoke again.

“Okay, fine. You’re right. I don’t know who this guy is, but he didn’t want me to stick around, so that’s got to mean something, right?”

Bokuto laughed. “Yeah, that he doesn’t want his friend to meet his roommate. I know someone of that kind as well.”

Kuroo rolled his eyes, so Bokuto tried again, a little more seriously. “Maybe his friend is shy? I don’t know, bro, but I’m pretty sure you don’t have to worry about it.”

After earning a confused expression, Bokuto shrugged. “I mean, Kenma seemed to like you quite a bit when I talked to him. He probably just scheduled for date night because-“

“Wait, you actually talked to him? About me? How much time did you spend at my place? What did you say? No, what did he say?” Kuroo gaped. “Also, don’t say Kenma if he didn’t allow you to,” he almost pouted, earning another chuckle from Bokuto. Kuroo was definitely adopting some of his habits as well, even if he wouldn’t admit it.

“We just talked for a minute, don’t worry. But I might have mentioned you and he totally blushed! It was kinda cute. Honestly, you should just ask him out.”

“Tch, maybe if you ask out pretty boy Akaashi.”

That made Bokuto pause again. He sighed deeply, thinking. “I don’t know. Do you really think I should? I mean, I don’t even know if I like guys for sure.”

Kuroo sighed, but he nodded. “Fine, fine, then don’t.”

“But Kurooooo! If I don’t, I won’t be allowed on the team!”

“That’s not even true. You’re a great player. You just have to think and focus.”

“But how!?”

“Okay, forget it. You gotta ask the man out.”

“What about Maiko, then?”

“What about her? You didn’t tell her you don’t wanna date her yet?”

Bokuto flushed a bright red. Honestly, he’d sort of forgotten about that part. Or well, maybe purposefully avoided was a more accurate term. He shrugged, and Kuroo groaned.

“How about you give yourself a bit more time? Spend the next two days figuring things out. Distract yourself on Saturday and then make a final decision on Sunday, huh? That should work.”

Bokuto considered for a moment, and ended up nodding. Kuroo’s idea wasn’t bad, and if he got lucky, he’d only miss out on practice the next two days. That was definitely manageable. Honestly, Kuroo was a lifesaver sometimes.

“I was thinking about throwing a… well, organizing a get-together. Not too many people. Just my friends, maybe a couple of their friends.”

“Will Kenma come?” Bokuto asked, brows raised as he grinned.

Again, Kuroo groaned, but blushed. Usually he was the one doing the teasing, so by now he felt dizzy from being on the receiving end of it. “Mhm, if I can convince him. Maybe he’ll bring his friend.”

Bokuto huffed a laugh, but he reached out to squeeze Kuroo’s shoulder affectionately.

“I think he really likes you, you know?”

“Mhm,” Kuroo muttered, letting his head fall onto Bokuto’s shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Also omg, I promise more Akaashi next chapter :)


	3. Hoot have thought?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bokuto was supposed to distract himself. Too bad that he ended up hanging out with the exact person he was trying to forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The songs in this chapter are ones that would be played at the party, but essentially I think they also describe bokuaka's situation.... at least partly :)  
> Enjoy!!  
> [6 songs]

After a restless Wednesday night, full of thinking, and totally not looking up Akaashi on Instagram, trying to find literally anything related to him, Bokuto couldn’t wait for Saturday.

Really, the past few days had been ridiculous. He couldn’t understand why he was thinking about a random guy so much, and after missing out on practice for the third day in a row, he was miserable.

His mood didn’t get any better when thinking of Maiko. Considering she hadn’t really texted him again, he had mostly just tried to avoid that topic, though. He was mostly hoping he could just forget about everything soon enough and go back to scoring points for his team.

But of course, when Saturday finally came, life was still not doing him any favors.

As soon as they walked into the apartment – that somehow wasn’t Kuroo’s? How he had managed to convince one of his friends to do this was a mystery to Bokuto. Then again, he was rather surprised Kuroo hadn’t tried to make him do it at his place – he noticed there was quite a few more people around than he had expected.

“Didn’t you say this was a get-together, not a party?” Bokuto shouted over the loud music, smile bright on his lips anyway. He never complained about having lots friends around, even if he didn’t recognize some of them.

“Yeah?” Kuroo replied innocently – well, as innocent as someone shouting and grinning could be.

“Mhm,” Bokuto laughed, “Did you at least get Kenma to show up?”

“Yup!”

And Kuroo sounded so proud saying that, Bokuto couldn’t even be mad at not having been warned about how big this was going to be earlier.

Walking further into the room, Kuroo’s demeanor changed drastically, though, so Bokuto followed his gaze, trying to see what might have upset him.

“What’s wrong bro-“ he was about to ask, patting Kuroo’s back playfully, before he saw him.

“Akaashi.”

“Kenma,” Kuroo said at the same time.

“Hah?”

Both of them looked at each other, Bokuto genuinely confused for a second. It was like seeing Akaashi was enough to wipe his brain of any other thoughts. So, he only understood what was happening when Kuroo pointed at the short guy standing right next to Akaashi.

“Kenma?” Bokuto asked, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Akaashi and Kenma were standing together, two other guys a couple feet away from them, but clearly lost in their own conversation – or argument? Either way, they all looked a little uncomfortable.

“That’s him,” Kuroo said, and Bokuto must have lost whatever remaining braincell he used to have, because he still wasn’t following.

“Huh? You know Akaashi?” he finally managed. At this point he wasn’t sure he even heard him correctly.

“What?” Kuroo spun around to look at him. “Akaashi is here?”

“You’re not talking about Akaashi?”

“Hah? No, I’m talking about Kenma’s friend, idiot! The one who hung out at our place on date night!”

Bokuto laughed before he could stop himself. “You called it date night.”

“Not the point! Are you saying Akaashi is Kenma’s friend? Jesus Christ, we’re fucked,” he exhaled, sounding exhausted already.

Only then did it click for Bokuto. Akaashi was here with Kenma. Kenma and Akaashi were friends. Akaashi and Kenma hung out on date night. Wait, what?

“What!?” Bokuto shouted even louder than he intended to. It got a couple people to turn their faces towards them, one of them being Akaashi. Their eyes met from across the room, and Bokuto felt his heart leap in his chest. Oh god.

And then, Akaashi smiled at him. It was small, no teeth, very reserved, but he was sure he recognized him.

It was like a reflex when he turned around, checking to see if he might have meant someone else, but no. There was no one even turned in his direction, so Bokuto quickly looked at Kuroo, blush spreading across his face.

“Kuroo.”

“Bo?”

“Akaashi just smiled at me.”

“Are you sure you’re not imagin-“

“Yes.”

Kuroo looked at him skeptically for a second. He obviously checked if what Bokuto was saying was true – and caught another glimpse of his own crush in the meantime. When he looked back at the volleyball player, he spoke, “Yeah, he’s still looking at us, so you should probably get out of my arms and talk to him.”

“Huh? Weren’t you the one saying him and Kenma might be a thing?”

Kuroo shrugged, but he didn’t look happy, or cheeky. He didn’t look too great in general, which made Bokuto frown.

“I mean, he smiled at you. And... if you steal him from Kenma, I’ll be the friendly roommate who consoles him through his heartbreak. You and I would probably have to keep our friendship secret from then on, but that’s totally worth it if you ask me,” he explained, and the way Bokuto groaned finally got a laugh out of him.

“Are you Oikawa in disguise?”

“Who knows?”

“I can’t, though.”

“Yeah, that’s what I just said.”

“No, I mean I can’t talk to Akaashi.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“I…” Bokuto whined, “I don’t even know what to say to him! I just looked at him and felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Last time I saw him I couldn’t even move! I said something super stupid and-“

“Wait, really? You didn’t tell me about that. What did you say?

“Kuroo!” Bokuto couldn’t keep the desperation out of his tone. He really, really wanted to talk to Akaashi, and he’d never been in a situation like this. “Is this what shy people feel like?”

That got a snort out of Kuroo, and he placed both of his hands on Bokuto’s shoulders, pulling him in so they were facing each other. “What’s so special about him? Just go talk to him like you would with any girl.”

“But-“

“Bokuto.”

“Yeah?”

“You know you’re the best volleyball player in school, right?”

Bokuto’s face lit up. He was aware Kuroo was just saying this to hype him up, but it was working anyway.

“You got this, alright? Don’t make it weird, just be your stunning self, and compliment the shit out of him, like you’d do with anyone else.”

“Right, right! Yup. I got this, bro! Thanks, you’re the best!”

When he was finally let go of and turned around though, Akaashi was nowhere in sight.

“Huh? Where’d he go?”

“Hm, Kenma is by the stairs, maybe he headed down there?”

Bokuto didn’t say anything at first. He tried looking for Kenma instead, and nodded when he spotted him. “You should say hey to him, too, you know?”

Kuroo shook his head. “I need a drink first.”

An eye roll from Bokuto later, Kuroo was gone and he was left to go looking for his… crush all by himself.

He was obviously nervous. In fact, he was so nervous, he didn’t even recall the last time he had been nervous before. Had he ever been at all? Games didn’t make him nervous, neither did exams, talking to authority figures, or girls. Nothing really made him feel this way ever. God, this was sort of a nightmare.

So, maybe, just maybe, Bokuto took his sweet time heading downstairs, trying to figure out what he was going to say. Was greeting Akaashi by his name going to be weird? Would he look like an obsessed stalker? Oh god, what was he going to do if Akaashi wasn’t even into men? He could never face him again. His opinion of him mattered too much.

If he’d thought straight for a single second, Bokuto would have probably realized that this was ridiculous. He had been rejected more times than he could count by girls, and none of those times had actually made him upset. So why was Akaashi so different?

Was it because he was a guy? His feelings were still new to him, something unknown, maybe even dangerous. He wasn’t sure how gay relationships worked either. He’d never thought about it. Did gender really matter though? He was sure Kuroo would tell him it was just socially constructed anyway, so it totally shouldn’t. (What the hell did that mean exactly? Bokuto wasn’t sure.)

Before he knew it, he was standing in the middle of the basement. And well, down here it wasn’t nearly as crowded as upstairs, and the music wasn’t as loud either. So, of course, he immediately found Akaashi among the few party guests.

He was sitting on a small sofa, all by himself. Bokuto looked around again, checking if any of the guys he’d seen him with earlier were around. When he didn’t see anyone, and Akaashi locked eyes with him again as soon as he glanced his way, Bokuto felt like it was too late to run.

So, he got his shit together and dared to walk towards him, before pointing at the empty spot next to him. He opened his mouth, but for some reason there was no words coming out. What was he trying to ask anyway?

Luckily, Akaashi seemed to know better what was going on inside his head, than he did himself, so he nodded. “You can sit, if you want,” he said in that same angelic voice he’d heard him use at the café. Actually, maybe that was a bit of an exaggerating. Akaashi’s voice sounded kind of dry, unamused, apathetic. His face didn’t show a particular expression either. Boredom maybe. Still, there was something so intriguing about it.

“I’m, uh- Well, hey, Akaashi, nice to meet you again! Bokuto.”

Holy shit. Since when was he this awkward.

He choked out a laugh, and looked around, hoping to distract himself. Akaashi’s precious chuckle that followed this absolutely miserable introduction made him snap back into his direction though.

“Well,” Akaashi said. “I remember you, Bokuto, don’t worry. And uh- besides, there’s quite a few stories going around about you,” he admitted, faintly blushing at that.

For a moment Bokuto wondered if Akaashi felt second-hand embarrassment for him. He was sure Kuroo would have, even though he wasn’t any better in that regard.

Nonetheless, he managed a smile, nodded. “I felt like I should’ve introduced myself properly, uh… I guess talking isn’t my strength when you’re around,” he mumbled, not even noticing the implication as he self-consciously rubbed his neck.

“Well! Uh, proper hey. I’m Bokuto Koutarou, also known as the world’s greatest ace!” He beamed at that, and when it got another laugh out of Akaashi, he felt accomplished, gaining back some of his usual confidence.

“Akaashi Keiji…uh, also known as world’s greatest….” He shrugged, which made Bokuto smile. “Barista. For sure,” he finished the sentence for the other guy.

“Doubtful. I’m quite certain I’m not the world’s greatest anything.”

“You can get there, if you work for it.” Bokuto hoped this sounded encouraging. He did believe it after all.

Akaashi nodded, but didn’t say anything else, so Bokuto said the first thing he could think of.

“So, you’re Kozume’s friend?”

Akaashi actually looked into his eyes again, then nodded. There was something almost curious to his expression. “And you’re Kuroo’s… boyfriend?”

Bokuto wasn’t sure if he should cry or laugh at that question, so he kind of just gaped for a second, before bursting out into one of his wholehearted laughs. It wasn’t just him being amused by the question, but also being relieved by the fact that Akaashi didn’t correct him when he called him ‘Kenma’s friend’ (by saying he was ‘Kenma’s boyfriend’).

Sure, it didn’t have to mean anything, but he wanted to be hopeful.

“Oh, no. Me dating Kuroo? God, no. No way. Does Kozume think that too? Oh god,” he started mumbling by the end. “Maybe that’s why he’s acting shy? Shit, gotta tell Kuroo we should probably tone it down if he wants to have a chance-“

His thoughts and rambling are interrupted by Akaashi speaking up again. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was such an absurd question. You two just seemed close. I thought you might be dating the girl from the café, but then Kenma mentioned he wasn’t sure so-“

“Hah?”

“I mean, uh, about if you’re gay… or rather if you’re into Kuroo?”

“Oh! So Kozume does wonder, huh?“

“Please don’t tell him I told you,” Akaashi sighed, and Bokuto had to laugh.

“If you don’t tell him that Kuroo has been crushing on him for the past few months,” he replied, not even bothering to hide it anymore. Sure, it wasn’t his secret to tell, but everything was pointing to Kenma liking Kuroo too, and Bokuto really just wanted to play matchmaker if he was honest.

“Right,” Akaashi replied, exhaling a deep breath and smiling again.

“Oh- and, uh, about the girlfriend thing! No, no! Well, I like girls, of course! They’re perfect.”

“Yeah, I get it. You’re… one of those ‘no homo’ guys then?” Akaashi almost chuckled, but something about it felt off.

“Well, a little homo maybe,” Bokuto replied thoughtfully, chin resting between his fingers.

Akaashi furrowed his brows, and brought his cup to his lips. Bokuto didn’t need any more incentive to keep talking.

“Like, recently I… found out I’m bi? Or something. I don’t know. If you think that’s weird…“ he trailed off and shrugged as well. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say.

“Oh, no, it’s fine. I’m gay, you know? Well, romantically at least. I’m actually ace.”

“Wait, you play volleyball? But what does that have to do with anything?”

Bokuto’s expression of pure an utter confusion must have been hilarious, because Akaashi almost spilled his drink while laughing. He actually put his cup down, and while his laugh never escalated to the same amount Bokuto’s laugh could – doubling over, being so loud it could be heard in a 5km radios, and so on – it was still just as eye catching, at least to him.

The guy looked absolutely adorable, bringing a hand up to his lips to conceal his fading chuckles.

Bokuto’s face turned from confused to stunned, and Akaashi had to notice, because a second later he had calmed down almost entirely.

“Sorry for laughing. I just didn’t realize there was this… double meaning until now.” Akaashi’s smile was brilliant, even as he spoke.

There wasn’t much else to do besides watching him and hoping for an explanation, so he kind of just nodded and smiled back. Really, the smile wasn’t even conscious at this point. It was just impossible not to smile when he was basically glowing like that.

“Basically… I was referring to ace as in asexual. So... not sexually attracted to anyone really. I do fall in love, and I enjoy relationships, but I’m not really into that other stuff,” Akaashi quickly clarified. If Bokuto hadn’t been watching him so closely, he probably would’ve missed the way Akaashi’s shoulders tensed at the admission.

Honestly, Bokuto was mostly fascinated though.

“That’s kinda cool! I’ve never met that type of ace before! Guess you’re my first.” He laughed, glad the joke didn’t come off weird when he saw Akaashi relax again, smiling somewhat shyly.

“I did play volleyball in high school though,” the barista finally said after a short moment of comfortable silence – well, as silent as a party could be.

Obviously, that caught Bokuto’s attention. “Really?” he asked, “What position? I still play now. Spiker, well, Ace. In the volleyball way.” He smiled.

“Mhm, yeah, I know. You’re kind of famous around school, Bokuto. I was surprised to see you down here anyway.”

Bokuto furrowed his brows and opened his mouth, but shut it again when Akaashi turned to him, grinned somewhat proudly – his face was hard to read, as his expression barely changed. Bokuto mostly relied on his body language. Akaashi’s shoulders told him quite a lot (and not just that he worked out) – and said, “I used to play setter.”

Bokuto grinned as well. Maybe mirroring Akaashi’s expressions was just his life now?

“Really? You should set for me some time! I bet you’re great, and you can totally come by practice any day! I’m sure coach won’t mind if I spend a whole session just spiking your sets!” The excitement in Bokuto’s voice was so obvious, it was almost painful.

“I don’t know... I haven’t played in about a year anyway, so I probably won’t even know what to do. Besides, I was never that great of a setter anyway. There were so many ones that were younger… and infinitely better, you know?”

The nostalgia in his tone made Bokuto feel sort of similarly. He thought back to high school, the teams they’d faced, and he wondered if he might have seen Akaashi before without realizing.

“No way! You have to be good! You definitely look like you’d be awesome! What made you stop playing anyway? Maaan, I’d love to be on the team with you.” He sighed, resting his elbow on the armrest, and propping up his head on his hand.

Just imaging playing with Akaashi was sort of awesome. God. What if they went on a volleyball date?

And just like that, he remembered why he had started this conversation in the first place. His heartbeat immediately picked up pace again, and he couldn’t believe it had been this easy to talk to Akaashi.

“I don’t know. I just knew I wasn’t going to go professional, so there wasn’t really a point. I figured focusing on studies would be more important.”

“Mhm, makes sense. You’re pretty smart, aren’t you, Akaashi?”

And just like that, Bokuto got the guy next to him flustered, and he probably never felt this thankful in his entire life. The sight was breathtaking. The faint pink on his cheeks, his averted eyes, his genuine but small smile. Yup, he was in deeper than he’d like to admit.

As quickly as I had come, the moment was over, when someone – Kuroo – stumbled into his lap.

For a second, Bokuto wondered how his friend had managed to get this drunk in only a couple of minutes, before he realized that more time had passed than he thought. He must have spent quite some time staring at Akaashi, and getting off track while they were talking.

“Boookutoo,” Kuroo slurred, and Bokuto shot Akaashi, who just had his brows furrowed, a curious look.

“Bo, I miss him already,” Kuroo started again. “He looked so pretty, but he kept ignoring me to play games with his friends, and when I finally talked to him, he was so meaaannnn.”

This time, he sounded more desperate and whiney than anything else. “Bro, are you okay?” Bokuto finally managed, softly pushing a hand through Kuroo’s hair to get it out of his face.

“No.”

So much for spending a night with Akaashi to ask him out by the end. So much for getting drunk to distract himself. So much for Kuroo being his wingman. By now, Bokuto was glad he told Akaashi about Kuroo’s crush on Kenma. He definitely deserved it for ruining this perfectly great moment. Not that Kenma wouldn’t like Kuroo back – they will totally end up together. Still, he was sure he’d be embarrassed if it happened like this.

Bokuto sighed, nodded. “Okay, let’s go grab another drink then, eh?”

Kuroo seemed to consider at first, but then just silently cheered and smiled.

Akaashi pouted, and Bokuto barely caught it. But man, was he happy he did.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Bokuto?”

Concern.

What he said caused Bokuto to smile so widely, his cheeks hurt.

“Don’t worry. Drinks at home.”

“Oh.” Akaashi blushed again, looking down.

Bokuto’s heart probably stopped at that. It was such a cute, innocent expression. He wanted to just swoop the guy up into his arms and never let go. At those thoughts, the blush spread to his own cheeks.

“I don’t know where you live, but do you wanna walk home with us?” Bokuto offered, still grinning.

“Oh, I have to drive Fukunaga, Kenma and Yamamoto home- Sorry.”

Bokuto nodded, trying not to feel to upset about the rejection – did that even count as one? He wasn’t sure.

He moved to pick Kuro up and carry him bridal style. Sure, the position wasn’t exactly comfortable, but with the stairs, he was afraid Kuroo would hit his head on the ceiling if he carried him on his back, and he definitely didn’t want to risk the guy puking all over him by carrying him over his shoulder.

So, he tried his best to adjust in a way that wouldn’t make this unbearable, and maybe he was imagining things, but he could have sworn Akaashi’s eyes were on him in that moment.

“Bokuto?”

He snapped his head back towards him.

“Be safe. And put on a jacket. It’s cold outside. Don’t underestimate the temperature just because it’s late summer,” Akaashi warned.

Again. He was sort of touched by the caring words from someone who only really knew him for a couple hours now. “Will do! Thanks, ‘kaashi.”

Their eyes met on last time that evening, and only when Kuroo mumbled “Kenma…” and started trying to move by himself, did Bokuto turn around to leave the place.

Man. Since when was he the responsible one? Was this what Kuroo dealt with every time? Maybe he shouldn’t drink again.

Yeah, right. No drinking just to have to deal with more of pining Kuroo while he was sober himself? No way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I appreciate any type of feedback or comments <3


	4. You're hootiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bokuto might finally sort out this weird dating situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what to say anymore, so just enjoy :)
> 
> [4 songs]

With how well last night had gone – apart from the Kuroo thing – Bokuto just couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

After having dragged Kuroo home and gotten him to sober up at least a little, both of them had fallen asleep in Bokuto’s bed. Of course, Bokuto woke up first, limbs tangled with his best friend’s. Getting up wasn’t too hard, considering he was quite a bit stronger than Kuroo, even if he was a little shorter.

Additionally, he wasn’t really trying to be gentle while climbing out of bed, so Kuroo was groaning and putting his hands over his face by the time he was standing up, trying to hide from the sunlight.

Bokuto let out a chuckle, but took pity on the guy and closed the curtains, which had stayed open last night, as it had already – or rather still – been dark when they fell asleep.

“Thanks…Water?” Kuroo mumbled quietly.

“On the nightstand!” Bokuto chirped, and Kuroo rolled around in bed, hoping to hide his face in the pillow now, because of how loud Bokuto was being (– he insisted later that even someone who wasn’t hungover would’ve agreed with him).

Only before falling asleep last night, did Bokuto realized that he hadn’t managed to ask Akaashi out. Even worse, he didn’t think of asking for his number, or if there was any social media, he just hadn’t found yet, so he didn’t have any way of contacting him.

Maybe he could have begged Kuroo to ask Kenma, but that seemed like a hassle for all of them, and it would make things even more awkward if Akaashi didn’t want him to have his number or something.

So, Bokuto decided to go visit the café he worked at. Sure, it was probably stupid to assume that he’d be working on a Sunday – especially when he attended a party the previous night, but he just couldn’t sit still.

Just thinking about Akaashi could have made him run twenty times up and down the street, and eventually jump high enough to reach the stars. He felt so giddy, it was insane. This was seriously worse than any high school crush he’s ever had. He felt more like a preschooler about to get his favorite sweets.

Okay, maybe comparing Akaashi to food wasn’t the best choice, but it didn’t change the fact that he felt this way.

Nervous, excited, happy.

He couldn’t wait another day to see the barista again, when there was even the slightest chance of seeing him today.

It was already noon when he finally checked his phone. About 1pm. He figured the late shift would start soon, and that might be when Akaashi would be there – if he was lucky, at least.

Right now, nothing could convince Bokuto that he didn’t have a chance though. He felt confident about their conversation last night, about Akaashi liking him. Yeah, he felt invincible.

At least for a moment, before something stopped him in his tracks.

He saw the text message right as he was about to make some tea for Kuroo, so of course he burned himself.

“Ouch! Shit! Ouchie, Kuroo!” he whined, and like in some stupid comic book, some kind of reflex must have been triggered in him because suddenly Kuroo was standing next to him, guiding his burnt hand towards the sink and letting water run all over it.

“So much for not being an idiot,” Kuroo complained, tiredness still obvious in his voice.

“Sorry…” Bokuto replied quietly, and Kuroo let out some weird noise of acknowledgement before grabbing his hand again, drying it and dragging him to the bathroom.

Man, even grumpy Kuroo was caring like this. Bokuto might have been surprised if this wasn’t about the ninety-sixth time something like this happened just this month. He was a clumsy drunk after all, so he always had some kind of scratch or bruise after a night out.

He felt lucky to have him, someone who joked around with him, but didn’t dip the second things weren’t going well. Kuroo was great.

On that note. “Kuroo, I wanted to tell you something.”

“This isn’t the time for you to confess your undying love for me, Bo.”

“Huh? No. No, Kuroo. I talked to Akaashi last night and-“

“Bo, can we talk about this later? I’ll gladly listen to how well your love life is going when I get over this hangover and how miserable mine is.” Kuroo didn’t look up as he spoke, instead fully focused on looking for a band aid and whatever ornament Bokuto had, so he could put them on.

“No, wait-“

“Bo.”

“Kenma is-“

“Bo.”

“Kuroo! Kenma likes you too. I’m, like, ninety-five percent sure!”

That finally got him to shut up, stop, and look at him. Bokuto wasn’t sure if it was because Kuroo had a headache and he had just shouted, or because he was stunned by what he had said. Seriously, why would he even be surprised though?

“I talked to Akaashi yesterday and Kenma likes you too. Akaashi literally asked me if you and I are a thing ‘cause Kenma said we might be. Apparently, he’s been kinda upset about it or whatever,” Bokuto explained, “So, basically, I decided I’m gonna see Akaashi today and then you can confess to Kenma too, and we can go on double dates!” The excitement in his voice made it grow louder again, so he shut his mouth for a second, trying to calm himself down after catching the look Kuroo threw at him.

“But Maiko kinda just texted me saying… she wants to talk, or something. I don’t know. She wants to meet up today, so maybe you should confess to Kenma first and then I’ll do A-“

“What the fuck?”

They stared at each other, Bokuto mostly confused about what kind of reaction that was. His plan had sounded pretty good to him, so he wasn’t sure why his best friend would be opposed. Or was he at all?

“You’re serious? Bo, are you sure you weren’t drunk or are exaggerating or anything? Come on, you should’ve led with that!” Now Kuroo was the one getting loud, but he immediately realized his mistake as well. “Fuck…” he groaned, holding onto his head.

“Man, I need food, pain killers and another nap, then I can think about this some more. But good luck with the Maiko situation, I guess.”

Bokuto just stood there as he watched Kuroo walk back into his bedroom. “That’s it? No advice or anything?”

“Sorry, Bo, your Guru is taking a day off.”

This time, he pouted, but Kuroo was already closing the door, not paying him any more attention.

* * *

Miraculously, Bokuto managed to get ready in under ten minutes and still look fairly good – well, his outfit might be kind of basic, but that wasn’t anything new. Comfort and practicality had always been more important than following some specific style.

The time limit had been forced on him by Maiko, who had asked him to meet her as soon as possible. He would have thought it was a little rude to demand this from him, if he didn’t plan on telling her that he was no longer interested in dating her.

He wasn’t sure what she wanted to talk about anyway. Maybe she wanted to see where they stood? That seemed like a fairly logical thing to do. Then again, Bokuto had never really understood how girls thought about relationships and such, so he might be entirely wrong.

To his displeasure, she had decided on meeting at the café Akaashi worked at. She mentioned something about how she was close already, and it felt fitting to just meet there again.

So, by now he was really, really hoping Akaashi wasn’t there. He might have mentioned at the party that he wasn’t dating her, but he still felt like it would be weird being seen like this. He didn’t want to seem like the type of guy who didn’t mean what he said.

When he finally got there and walked in, he felt relieved. Akaashi was nowhere in sight, and Maiko was already sitting at a small table. She still had her jacket on, so he figured she must have just gotten here too.

It only took another moment until she saw him as well. A smile bloomed on her lips as he approached, but she didn’t even bother standing up to greet him. Instead, she motioned for him to sit.

Taking a look at the table, he realized there was an already empty cup on there, so maybe she’d been here for a while after all.

“Did I leave you waiting? Man, I’m sorry. It was all just kind of sudden,” Bokuto offered, but she shook her head.

“No, don’t worry, Bokuto! It’s fine. I’ve been here for a while, before I even texted. I was kind of hoping to just quickly talk about this ‘cause I’ve been feeling pretty bad,” she explained.

“Bad how?”

“Well, you see… I know we haven’t been texting frequently or anything, but I’ve been worried you might be getting your hopes up. I…uh, I actually went out with someone else recently. I’ve kind of had a crush on him for a while and I know I shouldn’t have-“

Bokuto cut her off, smiling. “It’s okay,” he said, before shaking his head quickly. “Well, I mean, it’s not. You shouldn’t do that next time – getting with someone to forget about someone else. But it’s fine. We weren’t really that involved, and I kinda meant to talk to you about how this wouldn’t work out anyway…” he admitted.

He heard her let out a sigh of relief, and immediately felt that way himself. Finally, she looked him in the eye, giving him a smile.

“Thanks, Bokuto. You’re seriously a good guy. Anyone would be lucky to have you.”

Bokuto’s heart melted a little, and he probably blushed. Usually, he was great with receiving compliments, but this time, he felt something he couldn’t explain. It was a little heartwarming.

“Thank you. You’re pretty great, too, Maiko.”

“Thanks… I should probably get going then.”

“Wait? Already? I wanted to ask about studying. Like are you still going to-“

“Sorry, Bokuto! Gotta run.”

It was the last thing he heard her say, before she got up, and actually ran towards the door. She must have been in a hurry, because she knocked into someone when she opened the door, frantically apologized, and then disappeared from his view.

Maybe she was meeting her new boyfriend or something.

He sighed, ready to go as well. He considered sticking around and maybe trying to talk to some of Akaashi’s co-workers, but he figured it would be smarter to go home and study. After all, he’ll definitely need more time to learn whatever they were doing, now that he couldn’t rely on anyone else’s help. Maybe if he got lucky Kuroo would help. Probably not.

When he was about to get up though, he noticed that the person who had walked in wasn’t just anyone. It was Akaashi. (Of course it was. Seriously, it had to be his lucky day or something.)

Without thinking twice, or any hesitation, he got up and walked to the counter.

“Akaashi, hey,” he greeted with a smile.

Akaashi looked shocked for a second, before his expression turned into a more relaxed one and he smiled as timidly as he had last time. “Oh. Hello, Bokuto. Give me a second, I’ll be right there. I just walked in so I need to hang up my jacket and stuff.”

Bokuto nodded. He’d wait forever if he had to. Now that the Maiko thing had been solved, he felt way more at ease, and even more confident than he had before he left the house.

“I can get you something already, if you like?” The other person at the counter asked. Bokuto gave a smile and shook his head though.

“Thank you so much, but I can wait. The place isn’t that busy right now, so it’s fine if I stay here and chat, right?”

“Sure, I’m going to be out of here once Akaashi is done, though, so don’t distract him too much,” the guy said in a now grumpier tone, or maybe he just sounded disinterested. Bokuto couldn’t tell sometimes, especially not with people who had a customer-service-voice.

Just as promised, Akaashi returned from the back room, and the guy with the grey hair disappeared.

Looking at him, Bokuto felt excited. Akaashi was still smiling, and their eyes locked as he came closer. “I hope Konoha didn’t say anything mean?” he more or less stated, just for there to be some incoherent shouting coming from the back. Akaashi stifled a chuckle, and Bokuto kind of just watched.

He couldn’t even answer the question, until Akaashi looked at him curiously.

“Yeah, no. He’s cool.”

Right on cue, the guy came back, giving him a quick, curious look, before looking back at Akaashi. “Be careful with this one,” he said, and finally left.

Bokuto was left a little confused, until he looked at Akaashi’s face again, and he saw him blush. For some reason, it was different from last night. Maybe it was the sunlight hitting him just at the right angle? Oh shit. Maybe asking him out would be even harder than he thought.

He wasn’t necessarily scared of rejection right now. Well, not as much as just seeming like an idiot at least. What if Akaashi thought he was stupid? What would he do then? And with Kuroo and Kenma dating, they’d probably have to see each other all the time as well. Awkwardness would be inevitable, even if he tried to play it cool.

“Bokuto, are you okay? You keep spacing out. If you’re bothered by what he said… don’t actually worry about it, alright? He just-“

“No, no! It’s cool, Aghaashi. Uh. So, uhm…” Bokuto’s heart was going to beat out of his chest, he was sure. Speaking was more challenging than any math equation he’s ever had to solve, and he was feeling like he did when he first saw him here. His eyes were roaming the place, trying to be anywhere but resting on Akaashi.

“I was wondering… well, yesterday…” When Bokuto dared looking up, he found Akaashi just looking back, patiently waiting for him to get to the point.

God, why was this so hard? Asking out girls had never been this tough. Talking to people was his strength, why wasn’t this working out the way he wanted to? Man, Akaashi was so pretty too. How could he just look at him like this with no complaints?

“So… I was wondering. We got along pretty well yesterday, right? And, uh,” he frowned, but Akaashi nodded, as if to reassure him.

“I…uhm, you know you got really pretty eyes, right?” No, he had no idea where that came from, but it was true. The more time he spent looking at him, the more obvious it became.

Then Akaashi blushed, looked down, and smiled, and, well, Bokuto was ready to die. There was no more point in life. There’d be nothing better than this. There couldn’t be.

“Sorry, sir? Are you going to order or can I go?”

A voice interrupted him, and Akaashi immediately looked at whoever was standing behind him. If Bokuto had any more of a temper, he’d be blowing up right now. Instead, he shook his head, and stepped aside.

“Thanks,” the person said.

At first, he thought about just waiting for them to be gone, but when they were ordering the third drink, he decided to sit down and go back to chatting with Akaashi – hopefully actually asking him out – when it was a little less crowded again. He’d get some time to think about what he actually wanted to say as well. It was probably for the best.

Sadly, his luck seemed to be running out, and there were surprisingly many people entering the place, considering it was a Sunday noon. Well, actually, maybe that’s what other people did on Sundays, while he usually spent his just sleeping all day.

That didn’t change the fact that he was a little pissed, so he pulled out his phone and tried to distract himself.

About fifteen minutes passed, before he noticed someone sitting down opposite of him. The table was right by the counter, and he was honestly about to tell them off. He probably wasn’t as patient as he always said he was.

“You’re still here,” Akaashi said, interrupting his thoughts.

That’s when he realized, that it was indeed him sitting there. Without thinking, or a real reason, he checked the counter, door, and the general area. There were quite a few people around, but the front part of the café was almost entirely empty. Well, except for the two of them.

“I made you coffee. I wasn’t sure what you liked. I mean, I know you ordered hot chocolate last time… but your…”

“Tutor.”

“Tutor, right. She ordered for you so I thought… I don’t know.”

“Thanks, Akaashi. I appreciate it.” Bokuto smiled in the most genuine way he could. He hated coffee, if he was honest, but the way Akaashi had been so considerate and thoughtful while choosing what to get him made up for it.

Akaashi nodded, and was about to get up, but after quickly checking again, Bokuto reached out, and grabbed his wrist. “Any chance you can sit and chat for a bit?”

For a short moment, he was certain the barista would say no. He looked contemplative, and unsure, but eventually he shrugged and got back into his seat.

Okay, this was the moment. You can do this, Bo.

He took a deep breath and produced another smile. “So, I kinda just wanted to say, you’re… uh, you’re really nice, you know? And you’re…. also, really… you know, beautiful?” His heart was beating so hard against his chest, it hurt.

Akaashi pursed his lips, blush a little less obvious this time, but there nonetheless.

“I’m sorry to be this upfront, Bokuto. But why exactly are you here? Not that I mind having you around, I’m just confused. We’re not really friends or anything, right? So…” Akaashi suddenly interrupted, stunning Bokuto into silence.

Huh? Oh no. This was not going well. Seriously, Bo, just go on. Do it.

Hyping himself up was one part of the way, but Bokuto still wasn’t sure he could do it if he thought about it any longer. So, he took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

“Are you good at math? I was kind of just dumped by my old tutor, so I need a new one.”

Well. That wasn’t what he had wanted to say… but it was something.

Akaashi looked about the way he was feeling. There was just a big “Huh? Okay…” written all over his face.

“I mean… I guess? I would say I’m doing alright. But are you sure you don’t want help from someone in your year? They might be more qualified,” Akaashi offered casually, and Bokuto wanted to high five himself, as well as run into a wall until he forgot about all of this. Kuroo would never let him live this down.

“I’m sure. Thank you, Akaashi. You’re seriously the best!” Bokuto replied instead.

After receiving a nod, they just kind of sat there for a while, before Akaashi sighed.

“So, we could meet up on Wednesday, if that’s fine? I got an early shift, so you could just come here around the same time as today, and we could work on some problems after I’m done.” His suggestion was unsurprisingly nice and helpful. Bokuto almost didn’t regret asking for this. Almost.

His feelings of accomplishment were gone when they sat in silence again, and Akaashi started looking more and more uncomfortable.

He didn’t know what it was, but he was glad about whatever decided to overcome him in that moment.

“Actually, Akaashi, that’s not why I’m here,” he started, and was glad to find his eyes on him.

So, he just started talking – unfiltered.

“Well, I mean… I do need someone to help me with math, but when I came here last week, I was… god, I was so stunned after seeing you. Uh, you kinda pushed me into an identity crisis, and Kuroo had to help me out, and basically, I realized I was bi.”

He took a deep breath after getting that much out, but didn’t dare checking for a reaction.

“So, then he suggested throwing a party to forget about you ‘cause I couldn’t focus on practice anymore… but then you showed up, and man, yesterday was great. I really, really liked talking to you, Akaashi. So, today when I woke up I just… totally wanted to come here and ask you out on a date, and it’s so hard because you just look so pretty and!” He buried his head in his hands without continuing.

How was he supposed to ever even look at Akaashi again after rambling like this? It was embarrassing. Yup. Exactly the thing he didn’t want to happen. He’d get rejected, and Kuroo would make fun of him for this until the end of times, because well – he probably did look stupid now.

Except for, that’s not what seemed to be happening. When curiosity finally made him move his hands, he saw Akaashi’s whole face was red, and he was looking for something. After a while, there was a pen and a small sheet of paper on the table.

“I would… like to go on a date with you, Bokuto,” he finally said, and Bokuto had to stare for a least three seconds, as well as pinch himself to make sure this was real.

“Seriously?” he asked anyway.

“Unless you changed your mind.”

“No! I mean, no, I didn’t. I’d love to take you out on a date! I’m just- I never thought you’d say yes. Do you think you got time on Saturday? I was thinking I could take you to this volleyball game… ‘cause you used to play and all?”

Akaashi nodded almost immediately, starting to write down numbers on the piece of paper – his number. “Sure, why not?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. The next chapter will be the last one. I'll post a short 500 word epilogue with it as chapter 6, so see ya then!


	5. Watching Owls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akaashi and Bokuto go on a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, and very late Merry Christmas again! It's 4 songs this time, and then there's a couple that just remind me of Bokuaka in general. They didn't really fit the story, but I wanted them on there anyway!

**_Bokuto, 9:36pm_ **

I thought maybe I could pick you up at 3? The game starts at 4:30 🏐 😃

**_Akaashi, 9:36pm_ **

That should be fine. Are you sure you want to pick me up, though? I could just meet you there.

**_Bokuto, 9:37pm_ **

It’s fine!!! I’ll be taking Kuroo’s car anyway! & I wanna impress my date!! 💪

**_Akaashi, 9:38pm_ **

All right, if you insist. Thank you.

**_Bokuto, 9:38pm_ **

No need 4 thanks! It’s my pleasure 💙

**_Akaashi, 9:40pm_ **

See you on Saturday!

**_Bokuto, 9:40pm_ **

Can’t wait! 🤪

“Jesus Christ, Bo, tone it down, will you? What the hell? If you’re going to use any more emojis he’s going to dump you faster than you can say ‘ace’. What were you thinking?” Kuroo complained, shamelessly staring at Bokuto’s phone.

“Wait, seriously? Do you think so? Oh god, Kuroo! If I screwed up through text already, he’s gonna hate me,” Bokuto whined, face-palming just as Kuroo was about to flick his forehead. He ended up hitting Bokuto’s hand instead, which he quickly pulled away from with a pained expression on his face.

“Bokuto, you realize Akaashi has probably never used an emoji in his life, right? He’s all proper text, punctuation, and all that shit. You can’t go around texting like… whatever this is.”

“You text the exact same way! Besides, I thought you told me to just be myself around him!”

“That’s not the point right now! At least Kenma uses abbreviations as well. Plus, he already thinks I’m stupid, so it can’t get much worse.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“Yes, he does.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Shut up. This isn’t about me or Kenma,” Kuroo exhaled in annoyance.

Bokuto couldn’t help his chuckle. “It wouldn’t be, if you finally confessed.”

“It’s not that easy, Bo. I actually got something to lose if Kenma doesn’t like me back,” Kuroo explained, but Bokuto shook his head. “Besides, it’s a miracle Akaashi even said yes with how you confessed and asked him out…”

It was Bokuto’s turn to groan. “Fine! Fine. But I’ll keep texting Akaashi however I wanna! I’ve already been paying extra attention to typos and grammar. I’m sure he appreciates it… unlike a certain someone.” He gave Kuroo a look, unimpressed, and somewhat hurt.

Both of them ended up rolling their eyes, just to start laughing right after.

“Also, stop staring at my phone all the time!”

“It’s not my fault you’re wasting bro-time to text your crush. I’ve been waiting patiently but you’re just hurting me more and more. I’m being replaced, I get it,” Kuroo sighed, dramatically falling back into his own seat.

“I’m sooooo sorry, Kuroo! Please forgive me,” Bokuto joined in on the act, even though both of them knew the situation wasn’t even close to serious. The two of them ended up laughing again when Bokuto rested his head on Kuroo’s shoulder, and the guy just pushed him off.

“I can’t forgive you, unless you help our team win this round,” Kuroo finally said, grabbing his controller again, waiting for Bokuto to do the same.

Instead of following the instructions though, Bokuto had to check his phone again, – well, didn’t have to, but desperately wanted to – and while he expected to be left on seen like this, it still sort of sucked. Akaashi wasn’t great at texting. He had warned him about barely being on his phone at all – it was hard to imagine, considering him and Kenma were friends, and Kenma was on his phone all the time.

“You don’t think he actually regrets this, right?” he asked after a while, genuine concern lacing his voice. “I mean… after cancelling the study session last minute yesterday…. What if he bails on Saturday, too?” Rejection didn’t usually hurt Bokuto too much, but that didn’t mean cancelling on dates didn’t leave him somewhat insecure. Opposite to how he might present, Bokuto was actually quite a thoughtful, even sensitive person at times.

Kuroo looked back at him, face serious as he shook his head. He could probably tell exactly what was going on inside Bokuto’s head. He knew him best after all. “No way he would do that. He texted you yesterday morning that his shift changed to a double right? There’s no way that was an excuse, considering you could’ve just gone and checked. Not that any normal person would purposefully do that but…”

Bokuto thought about it for a moment, before eventually nodding. He wasn’t totally convinced, but it made sense. Besides, he wanted to avoid spiraling any further if he could.

“I guess you’re right.”

“Come on, stop worrying about the wrong things. Akaashi clearly likes you, so just focus on the fact that you really, really need to win this time.” Kuroo offered a smile, and Bokuto nodded again, smiling back at him this time. He wanted to try to be his best self. This was one step in that direction.

Kuroo bumped Bokuto’s shoulder, chuckling softly, as if to encourage him. “You got this.”

“Thanks, bro.” He replied. He just needed to be hopeful.

* * *

Before long, it was Saturday noon and Bokuto was getting ready to see Akaashi. To his surprise, he was fairly calm, and the week had gone well. During practice, he was able to focus and score like he normally would.

Sure, Akaashi was on his mind pretty much all the time, especially because they ended up texting quite a bit during the last two days, – despite Akaashi insisting he was a bad texter, it was still easy to talk to him, at least when he took some time out of his day to give proper replies. And unlike Kuroo had predicted, Akaashi seemed to like the way he texted. Bokuto even got him to occasionally use an emoji when something was funny. – but that didn’t distract him as much as it did before he had gotten to know him.

He figured it was because all of his thoughts weren’t just ‘what if’ scenarios anymore – even though there were still quite a few of those, mostly reduced to when he was about to fall asleep.

Either way, he was grateful, and he was hoping that today would serve to show exactly that. He’d thank Akaashi for talking to him, for making him happy, for giving him a chance.

It was cheesy, and probably too much, but Bokuto’s feelings were just so overwhelming, he couldn’t help it. If he got the opportunity, he would probably pull some grand gesture to woo the guy – and, well, if he was sure Akaashi really did like him just as much. It was still kind of hard to say though.

It was almost 2pm when he got a text from Akaashi, asking if it was cool for him to meet Bokuto at his place and go together, instead of Bokuto picking him up.

Of course he panicked. The place was an absolute mess, and Kuroo was still there. He had originally shown up under the premise that he’d help him choose what to wear, but considering that choice had been made about five minutes after he had gotten there, he was just sitting on his bed, staring at his phone now.

Incapable of denying any request Akaashi made, Bokuto ended up forcing Kuroo to help him clean up at least a little. And while Kuroo spent most of the time complaining, he turned out to be quite useful anyway.

Once it was mostly done, Bokuto sent a text back, saying it was fine, and soon enough, Kuroo had left his place, and there was a knock on his door.

After taking one last look in the mirror, he moved to open it.

He felt a little insecure, if he was honest – and not just because of lingering thoughts. He was wearing his usual clothes, nothing too fancy or anything. But, Kuroo had convinced him to actually wear stud earrings, and keep his hair down.

(Bokuto had always liked piercings, but after getting his ears pierced, he never really thought it suited him. Besides, taking them out for practice and putting them in after turned out to be a hassle. About the hair, well, he knew Kuroo liked how it looked when it was down, and while he did as well, he always worried that others might think he was lazy or something for not styling it.)

As soon as he opened the door though, he was stunned into silence. Not a single other thought, except for one that was saying ‘beautiful’, crossed his mind.

Akaashi was wearing glasses. His hair looked a little messy – probably because it was windy outside, and he was holding a big bouquet of flowers. There was so many of them, and Bokuto wasn’t sure if he recognized even a single one. He wondered for a second, if Akaashi would tell him about the different types of flowers.

Quickly, he realized it didn’t matter, though. What really did was the fact, that Akaashi was holding them out towards him, looking away. He seemed shy about it. So, in order to not make him feel any more uncomfortable, Bokuto took them from him, smile bright on his face.

“So, ‘re these for me?”

While his voice sounded relaxed, a little flustered maybe, Bokuto was freaking out on the inside. He didn’t recall the last time someone gave him flowers. Actually, he wasn’t sure he had ever gotten some from anyone, ever.

So yeah, he was totally whipped. He would have loved to just fall to Akaashi’s feet right then and there, and beg him to let him be his boyfriend. He held back though, figuring it would just scare him off.

He barely caught Akaashi nodding in response to his question, so he laughed quietly, and only then did Akaashi look up. “Thanks, Akaashi! They’re beautiful, just like you, by the way!”

And somehow, the compliment left his mouth with ease. His hands were a bit sweaty, and he could feel his heart beating, hard and fast, but apart from that he didn’t feel nervous. He was glad to have back his old charms, this cool exterior, that usually made people feel more at ease around him. He was happy, but the feeling that was taking over more and more with each second, was giddiness.

Akaashi, on the other hand, seemed very different from how he usually came off. His lips were tugged up into a very subtle smile, face turned towards Bokuto, but eyes never exactly meeting his. He was also shifting from one foot to another, so it was easy to tell that he was nervous, or something of that sort.

“So, wanna come in for a sec?” Bokuto asked. He wasn’t sure what they would do once inside, but he felt like offering was the right choice.

“Do we have the time, Bokuto? I don’t want to miss the beginning of the game,” Akaashi replied, immediately making Bokuto replace his contemplative expression with an excited one.

“You’re right, actually! I don’t know how many people are going to be there. It’s not that big, but we might want to be early anyway!” he said.

Again, Akaashi shifted, but this time he really looked at him, and gave him a small smile.

“Do you know if I can just put them in a glass of water?” Bokuto asked when he realized he was still holding the flowers. “I don’t actually have a vase right now…” he admitted, free hand moving up to rub his neck, as his lips twitched into more of a shy, embarrassed smile.

Akaashi chuckled softly. “I don’t think you have any other choice then.”

“Yeah, alright. You can come in and wait in the living room while I take care of this then? Once I’m done, we can go. Thanks again!”

Only when he turned to walk towards the kitchen, did he think about how bad of an impression he was probably making. Apart from not even showing Akaashi around, he didn’t have anything to give back to him. God, he probably seemed rude.

Bokuto considered grabbing unopened chocolates from the kitchen and giving them to Akaashi, but when he couldn’t find them – probably Kuroo’s fault – he didn’t have any other choice but to come back empty-handed.

Akaashi still smiled at him when he approached, – of course he was. He just had to be nice like that. How much more perfect could anyone get? – and started getting up from where he had been sitting on the sofa, so they could get going.

“Your place is quite nice, Bokuto,” Akaashi complimented, and Bokuto was filled by a warm feeling, that made heat rise to his cheeks.

“Thanks,” he replied quietly.

* * *

“And well, that’s basically how I ended up babysitting an owl. I’m telling you, it’s not as unlikely as you think!” Bokuto finished, wrapping up the story he had been telling on his way there, with a bit of a laugh.

He had been watching Akaashi carefully throughout all of it. He wasn’t staring, obviously, but he needed to make sure he wasn’t just boring him to death with whatever random thoughts and memories he had been telling him about.

Honestly, it was going well. Akaashi could be way more talkative than expected. Apart from mentioning an anecdote or two of his own, he always knew what questions to ask to keep the conversation going. He made it feel natural, and Bokuto never once felt like he wasn’t listening. Bokuto couldn’t help but think that Akaashi would make a perfect interviewer.

So, when Akaashi laughed loudly at his last sentence, Bokuto wasn’t as surprised anymore as he might have been this morning.

Akaashi had feelings, and he was good at showing them when he wanted to. His smiles were shy, his gestures small, but the more time you spent with him, the more obvious and meaningful they became.

Finding their seats while still chuckling occasionally turned out to be harder than expected, though, and maybe Bokuto should’ve saved the story for after the match. At least the ice was broken already, and-

Akaashi suddenly grabbed his arm, so Bokuto turned to face him. They were standing on the last couple steps, just about to reach the last row of free seats.

“I’m sorry. I lost balance and didn’t want to knock anyone over, or fall myself. I just grabbed the first thing I saw,” Akaashi explained, and while Bokuto’s cheeks went red, and his heart started racing, he managed to nod. Akaashi let go of him once he was steady on his feet again, but Bokuto didn’t go back to moving just yet.

“It’s okay. I didn’t mind actually,” he stated, watching carefully for Akaashi’s reaction. Similarly to what he expected, Akaashi blushed, but he didn’t break eye contact this time.

“I’m glad,” Akaashi finally replied, and Bokuto felt like that was confirmation enough. He reached out again, softly grabbing Akaashi’s hand.

“’S this okay then?” he asked, just to be sure.

When he saw Akaashi nod, he intertwined their fingers and tightened his grip. “Don’t fall again. Well…” he snickered before continuing, “Unless it’s for me, of course.”

He was aware of how silly the joke was, that he could potentially be judged for it. There was something so nice about Akaashi’s presence, though. It made him feel like he didn’t have to hold back on stupid jokes, strange questions, or whatever else.

This feeling only grew stronger when Akaashi tried giving him a deadpan look, but instead ended up smiling anyway.

“Don’t worry, Bokuto. I feel much safer already,” he replied timidly. This time it was him who gave Bokuto’s hand a squeeze, and he felt butterflies in his stomach. Holy shit, he was so into this guy. Was wanting to be with someone so bad after knowing them for barely two weeks normal?

A thought crossed his mind. It was sappy, and he was sure if he said it out loud, he’d die of embarrassment, and everyone around him would die of second-hand embarrassment, but still. He couldn’t help but think, that maybe, just maybe, they were meant to be.

* * *

The game started almost right after they had found their seats. Bokuto had still managed to explain who the teams were – two high school teams from Tokyo, that were gaining popularity for their absurdly good players. It reminded him of his own experience in high school.

Considering they weren’t playing in a professional league or anything, Bokuto had to admit he wasn’t particularly interested in who would win. The game itself hadn’t been his reason for coming anyway. Well, of course, he also wanted to check out the competition he’d have in a year or two, and he liked watching volleyball. The biggest reason, though, was to watch Akaashi.

Okay, okay. That might sound a little creepy. He wasn’t going to just sit there and stare right at his face. His intention was getting to now Akaashi better, so seeing how he reacted to certain things in volleyball was interesting. He wanted to hear his opinions on strategy, find out who he’d root for and why, but most of all, he just wanted to see him enjoy something.

The party they had been to didn’t initially seem like his idea of a fun evening, and even if it was, Bokuto barely had any chance to spent time with him doing anything other than being absolutely nervous, before Kuroo had to show up and ruin the moment.

With this goal in mind, he obviously found it hard to focus on the game. The only times he really did, were when Akaashi commented on whatever was happening, and he needed to figure out whether he would agree or not.

So, when the game ended after only two sets, he was somewhat surprised.

He wasn’t quick enough to hide his confused expression, so Akaashi ended up noticing it. At first, he stayed quiet and just furrowed his brows, but when Bokuto started chewing nervously on his lip – worried that his way of watching him might had come off as weird, after all – Akaashi finally decided to speak up.

“Bokuto, did you not see this coming?” he asked, voice back to the indifferent tone, that was so hard to place. They were too close for Bokuto to properly read his body language without becoming hyperaware of everything he did as well.

“Uh, I don’t know. I mean, matches can always turn quickly…” he mumbled.

“They lost both sets with at least a seven-point difference,” Akaashi replied, frowning at the end of the sentence. And then, for no apparent reason, he pulled his hand back from Bokuto’s.

Immediately, he became even more confused. They had been holding onto each other the entire time. Akaashi even leaned into him every once in a while, – this had Bokuto conflicted each time. He wanted to be close, but also keep a bit of a distance, so he could get a good look at his handsome face. – so why was he pulling away now? It seemed like a random moment to do so. Obviously, it made Bokuto worry that he might have done something wrong, but he wasn’t sure what it might have been.

People started clearing out, so the two of them got up as well.

Bokuto tried staying close as they slowly made their way out of the building, into the somewhat cold – at least cold for summer – night, but it was almost like Akaashi avoided touching him now, to a point that he almost got lost in the crowd once.

By the time they had made it outside, Akaashi hadn’t said anything else, and Bokuto was definitely worrying – panicking.

So, he did the only thing he could think of. He stopped in a spot where they were mostly alone. They hadn’t quite reached the parking lot yet, but they were close.

At first, Akaashi didn’t seem to realize he was walking alone, but once he did, he turned around and took a couple steps back.

“What’s the matter?” he asked firmly.

Bokuto’s face fell. God, he was so confused. Kuroo seriously wasn’t kidding when he said it’s not girls, who are complicated – it’s humans.

“Akaashi, are you okay? You seem… a little quiet. Did I make you uncomfortable or something? I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to. I was just…” he trailed off when he saw the way Akaashi grimaced, like he’d seen something really gross just now. It was weird seeing him like this. Bokuto figured he must be seriously upset to show it this openly.

“Bokuto, if you decided you didn’t want to go on a date after all, you could have just said so. I would have felt better knowing that, than going through this,” Akaashi said, and Bokuto became infinitely more confused. He had thought this whole thing had been going well so far. Maybe he was wrong. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long for Akaashi to continue.

“I suspected you were spaced out during the game. I mean, you even checked your phone twice, so it was obvious, that you were bored, but if you had just said so-“

“Wait, wait! I think you’re misunderstanding something.”

Akaashi went quiet, but his face still looked pained. It was then, that Bokuto realized that Akaashi wasn’t angry. He was hurt, disappointed. He liked him, and he wanted Bokuto to like him. For some reason that was hard to grasp, but it was true. It was real. He was slowly realizing it, coming to terms with the fact that his feelings were mutual.

“Akaashi….” Bokuto started, grabbing both of Akaashi’s hands. “I really, really wanted to be here. I…” He sighed. Words were harder than he expected.

Seeing how he was struggling, Akaashi softened a bit, and actually grabbed Bokuto’s hands as well, instead of just letting him hold onto them loosely.

“I was really nervous… and I might have been a little spaced out, but that wasn’t because I didn’t like being here with you! I totally loved it. I like holding your hand, and seeing you smile…”

Akaashi was frowning again, and looked away, so Bokuto sped up.

“Well, I was sort of just thinking about you any time I wasn’t paying attention, which was a lot…so…” he finally said.

Akaashi still didn’t look up, but he moved a little closer. Bokuto was more than lost trying to navigate all these mixed signals.

“And uh,” he added, “I was on my phone ‘cause I wanted to ask Kuroo if inviting you to my place on our first date would be weird… I can show you the messages if you want.”

Akaashi exhaled a shaky breath, stepped forward, and hugged him. They were seriously hugging right now. He hadn’t fucked up entirely. Thank the gods.

When Akaashi pulled away, it felt too soon, but he let go anyway.

It took Akaashi a moment to speak up, even after he had opened his mouth. His expression was more than easy to read this time. He looked regretful, maybe even guilty. “I’m sorry for assuming the worst, Bokuto. You’re just…” Akaashi smiled sadly, “You’re really great, and I know you’ve been really nice and forward, but I guess I get insecure about these things sometimes. You know… just wondering if I can… keep up? I don’t know. Maybe I… maybe I think you wanting to go out with me is too good to be true?” he admitted.

Bokuto nodded, trying to be understanding. He didn’t know how Akaashi felt exactly. He did have an idea though, especially for the last part. So, he smiled back at him. “Yeah… I’ve pinched myself about four times to make sure this is real since we got here, too,” he said, hoping it would make the whole moment a little more lighthearted.

It seemed to work, because Akaashi’s smile grew bigger as he slowly shook his head.

Still, he didn’t want to brush off the rest of what he said, but he also wasn’t sure if he understood what he was feeling. So, he didn’t pretend to, and instead tried being there in any way he could be. “It’s okay, though. I’ll assure you any time you need, so next time… let’s just talk it out, alright?” he offered, smiling more brightly by the end.

For a second, Akaashi looked surprised. But then he nodded enthusiastically.

“So… about coming to my place… Kuroo said it would totally be weird, but I really just want to spend more time with you, and maybe make up for… well, this, so maybe we could grab McDonald’s and watch a movie? I can drive you back home tonight, too…”

“Sorry… but, uh,” Akaashi sighed, looking away as he bit his lower lip.

Great, maybe Kuroo was right after all.

Akaashi looked back up at him, but his face looked weird. He wasn’t wearing a serious, or sad expression anymore.

His face was awfully twisted until he started laughing quietly. (He still looked really cute, Bokuto couldn’t take his eyes off him.)

“I’m actually vegetarian, so how about pizza instead?”

When Bokuto got the joke, he couldn’t even be mad, so he just ended up laughing as well.

“Don’t scare me like that! Akaashi!”

Akaashi just laughed harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Enjoy the epilogue!


	6. Owl's nest - epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple months after their date!

“Finally!” Bokuto heard as soon as he entered the café. He walked by the counter, pressing a quick kiss to Akaashi’s lips. The barista smiled, and Bokuto knew he was still watching him when he finally sat down at his usual table.

“Stop being so loud,” an annoyed voice replied, barely above a whisper. Kenma didn’t even need to look up to know exactly where to hit Kuroo’s shoulder. It was a routine at this point, and Bokuto was almost sure Kuroo had a permanent bruise in that exact spot.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh, Kenma? He’s your boyfriend after all,” Bokuto suggested, earning a quiet thumbs up from Kuroo, which, in turn, made him laugh.

“Just because you and Keiji are lovey-dovey idiots doesn’t mean everyone else has to be. Besides, he’s-“

“Lucky I even get to call you that. I know, I know,” Kuroo interrupted.

At first, Bokuto seriously wasn’t sure if Kenma maybe (not so secretly-) secretly hated Kuroo. But now that he’s witnessed them banter like this multiple times, and just generally has seen how they work, he knows that most of it is meant in a loving way. Still, he kind of understood why Kuroo had such a hard time confessing until about two weeks ago.

Nonetheless, Kuroo seemed happier than ever now, and he insisted Kenma had his actually sweet moments. Obviously, Bokuto and everyone else pretended not to know about those, but they became hard to ignore sometimes. Just like now. Kuroo wrapped an arm around Kenma’s shoulder, and instead of pushing him off, Kenma leaned further into him with a satisfied smile. It was odd how much sense they made together.

“So, when’s Akaashi joining us?” Kuroo asked, and Bokuto had to check the time. “His shift ends in three minutes, so if Konoha decided he doesn’t hate us today-“

“You,” both Kuroo and Kenma interrupted.

“Fine. If Konoha decided he doesn’t hate me today, Keiji should be here any second now.”

And just as Bokuto finished the sentence, two cups of green tea were placed on the table, before he was joined on the small sofa opposite of the one Kuroo and Kenma were occupying.

“Hey guys,” Akaashi greeted, quickly moving to place a kiss on Bokuto’s lips right after. Obviously, Bokuto didn’t hesitate when it came to kissing him back. Instead, he also added a hand on Akaashi’s cheek, and an arm around his waist.

“Gross,” Kuroo sighed.

“Seconded,” Kenma agreed, “You guys know you’re in public, right?”

Bokuto pulled away then, because he couldn’t not chuckle at their hypocrisy. Akaashi rolled his eyes.

“Kuroo, I think your boyfriend might be jealous,” Akaashi suggested, earning a deadly glare from Kenma.

“Kuro, don’t you dare. I’m not jealous,” Kenma started, but it was too late. Kuroo pulled him closer anyway, just to whisper something in his ear, making Kenma flush a bright red.

Akaashi looked back at Bokuto, who had been watching him with a fond smile.

“Your tea is going to get cold, you know?”

Bokuto pouted, but leaned down to pick up the cup. “Can’t let that happen, now that I finally don’t have to force myself through coffee anymore.”

Akaashi frowned. “And whose fault is that?”

Bokuto just chuckled before taking a sip, eyes still on his boyfriend. “It’s great, thank you,” he said eventually.

The frown turned into a small smile, a blush spread across Akaashi’s cheeks, and the one thing that had to ruin the moment, of course, was Kuroo.

“So, are you going to kiss again, or can we actually start working on Bokuto’s stupid homewo-“

Akaashi gave Kuroo a quick look, before leaning in to kiss Bokuto again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'd very much appreciate comments or Kudos!! Most of all, I hope you enjoyed, Bel!

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think the owl pun in the title has any meaning. It's just...Bokuaka owls.


End file.
